Now that Frontier flies to Cincinnati Covington (CVG) airport instead of Dayton, we made a return trip to a Reds game. No need to rent a car when visiting Cincinnati, just book a downtown hotel and use the public bus from the airport to downtown. The "TANK" is the public bus system connecting the airport to downtown Cincinnati ( Website: http://www.cvgairport.com/trans and http://www.tankbus.org/routes/2x ). The specific bus that you'll ride is the 2X. The fare is $2.00 (no change given) and the ride takes about 30 minutes with a stop in Covington first before crossing the Ohio River into Cincinnati. We got off the bus at Fountain Square located at the intersection of W 5th Street and Vine in downtown. We used Hotwire and got a hotel 3 blocks from the bus stop at the Cincinnatian ( Website: http://www.cincinnatianhotel.com/ ). There are numerous bars nearby; we started at O'Malley's in the Alley for Happy Hour. As you enter, don't stop at the front bar. Instead head toward the back and the large outside deck area (Websites: https://www.yelp.com/biz/o-malleys-in-the-alley-cincinnati-2 and http://cincinnatiusa.com/eat-and-drink/omalleys-alley ). There are numerous places to eat further up (north) along Vine Street within a half mile of our hotel. They had an article and a website about the Vine Street Grub Crawl ( Website: http://cincinnatiusa.com/article/vine-street-grub-crawl ). Here's the top spots: http://www.10best.com/destinations/ohio/cincinnati/nightlife/best-nightlife/ for Cincinnati. The granddaddy of them all is Arnold's Bar and Grill. It's the oldest continually operating bar in Cincinnati. Check out either their Great Lakes Seasonal Beer or their Bell's Seasonal Beer ( Arnold's Website: http://www.arnoldsbarandgrill.com/ ). As for the baseball game, the Reds play at Great American Ball Park, which was less than a mile from our hotel ( Website: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=cin ). The Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is located next to the ballpark. The Holy Grail Tavern and Grille is located across the street from the ballpark ( Holy Grail Website: http://www.holygrailcincy.com/html/home/home.php#_=_ ). After the game, head over to Taft's Ale House ( Website: http://taftsalehouse.com/ ) for a nightcap. We had breakfast at the Sports Page Restaurant, which was a 1/2 block from our hotel on Vine St. It's a hole-in-the-wall place that serves solid food ( Website: http://www.sportspagecincinnati.com/ ). When it's time to fly home, take the 2X bus back to the airport. Check the schedule for departure times. They are either every 30 minutes or every 45 minutes depending on the time of day ( Schedule for the 2X Bus: http://www.tankbus.org/Portals/tankbus/Documents/Schedules/2X%20-%20Airport%20Express.pdf ).
Enjoy your trip to Cincinnati!
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Cincinnati Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Cincinnati,_Ohio
Mike Summers; September 2011:
Seats to Dayton were open; so we headed there to visit neighboring Cincinnati and catch a Reds game. It's a one and one-half hour drive from the Dayton Airport to the Cincinnati Riverfront. We went strictly for the game, but here's some websites for attractions in the Cincinnati area: http://cincinnatiusa.com/ and http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g60993-Activities-Cincinnati_Ohio.html and
http://cleveland.about.com/od/justoutsideoftown/tp/cincinnatiattractions.htm . We did visit the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, which is right next to the ballpark (Website: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/cin/hof/hof/index.jsp and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Reds_Hall_of_Fame ). Cincy's on Sixth had a great happy hour and food specials (Website:
http://cincysonsixth.com/ ). Also in downtown is Arnold's Bar and Grill (Website: http://www.arnoldsbarandgrill.com/ ), which calls itself the oldest tavern in Cincinnati. Downtown Cincy is pretty vibrant. People seem to like to get out and have fun -- like Denver. Here's a website for downtown Cincinnati: http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/home.aspx .
Give Cincinnati a try sometime!
Mike Summers; August 2016:
Now that Frontier flies to Cincinnati Covington (CVG) airport instead of Dayton, we made a return trip to a Reds game. No need to rent a car when visiting Cincinnati, just book a downtown hotel and use the public bus from the airport to downtown. The "TANK" is the public bus system connecting the airport to downtown Cincinnati ( Website: http://www.cvgairport.com/trans and http://www.tankbus.org/routes/2x ). The specific bus that you'll ride is the 2X. The fare is $2.00 (no change given) and the ride takes about 30 minutes with a stop in Covington first before crossing the Ohio River into Cincinnati. We got off the bus at Fountain Square located at the intersection of W 5th Street and Vine in downtown. We used Hotwire and got a hotel 3 blocks from the bus stop at the Cincinnatian ( Website: http://www.cincinnatianhotel.com/ ). There are numerous bars nearby; we started at O'Malley's in the Alley for Happy Hour. As you enter, don't stop at the front bar. Instead head toward the back and the large outside deck area (Websites:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/o-malleys-in-the-alley-cincinnati-2 and http://cincinnatiusa.com/eat-and-drink/omalleys-alley ). There are numerous places to eat further up (north) along Vine Street within a half mile of our hotel. They had an article and a website about the Vine Street Grub Crawl ( Website: http://cincinnatiusa.com/article/vine-street-grub-crawl ). Here's the top spots: http://www.10best.com/destinations/ohio/cincinnati/nightlife/best-nightlife/ for Cincinnati. The granddaddy of them all is Arnold's Bar and Grill. It's the oldest continually operating bar in Cincinnati. Check out either their Great Lakes Seasonal Beer or their Bell's Seasonal Beer ( Arnold's Website: http://www.arnoldsbarandgrill.com/ ). As for the baseball game, the Reds play at Great American Ball Park, which was less than a mile from our hotel ( Website: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=cin ). The Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is located next to the ballpark. The Holy Grail Tavern and Grille is located across the street from the ballpark ( Holy Grail Website:
http://www.holygrailcincy.com/html/home/home.php#_=_ ). After the game, head over to Taft's Ale House ( Website: http://taftsalehouse.com/ ) for a nightcap. We had breakfast at the Sports Page Restaurant, which was a 1/2 block from our hotel on Vine St. It's a hole-in-the-wall place that serves solid food ( Website: http://www.sportspagecincinnati.com/ ). When it's time to fly home, take the 2X bus back to the airport. Check the schedule for departure times. They are either every 30 minutes or every 45 minutes depending on the time of day ( Schedule for the 2X Bus:
http://www.tankbus.org/Portals/tankbus/Documents/Schedules/2X%20-%20Airport%20Express.pdf ).
Enjoy your trip to Cincinnati!
Mike Summers; June 2017:
The flight schedule was such that we were able to head to Cincinnati for a day trip. As mentioned above we took the TANK public transportation bus from the airport to downtown at 5th and Vine, which is right next to Fountain Square. Websites: http://www.cvgairport.com/trans and
http://www.tankbus.org/routes/2x ; This is also where you can easily pick up the bus and take it back to the airport. Price was $2.00 per person per trip (no change and no credit card). Here's some ideas for day trips: https://datenightcincinnati.com/cincinnati-area-day-trips/ and
http://cincinnatiusa.com/trip-ideas and https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g60993-s407/Cincinnati:Ohio:Day.Trips.html and
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g60993-s204/Cincinnati:Ohio:Neighborhoods.html . We hung out along the river walking across the "Purple Bridge" to Covington, KY. We then crossed back and walked to the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood (Websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-Rhine and https://www.apartments.com/over-the-rhine-cincinnati-oh/#guide ). We checked out three places. We retuned to the Taft's Ale House (Website:
http://taftsalehouse.com/ ) because we enjoyed it on our last visit. From there we walked a few blocks to Krueger's Tavern with it's nice beer and wine selection, an upstairs rooftop patio, and some nice homemade meatballs (Website: http://www.kruegerstavern.com/ ). From there we strolled over to The Lackman (Website: http://lackmanbar.com/ ) with its nice cocktail menu, wine, and draft beer. No food is served there. They have a nice Happy Hour from 4-8PM with $2 Off Drafts, $3 Domestics, $4.50 Calls, and $5 Dark Horse Wines. Every place has something nice about it, and Cincinnati is a nice place for a day trip!
Enjoy!